Jean-Eric Vergne is hopeful that Toro Rosso's form will pick up in the next few races following a tough Singapore Grand Prix.

Daniel Ricciardo crashed out of the race in Singapore while Vergne himself could only struggle to a 14th place finish. However, Vergne believes Toro Rosso's potential was masked on the street circuit and that some of the upcoming tracks were likely to play in to the team's hands.

"We're now going to circuits that should suit the car better than Singapore," Vergne wrote in his Toro Rosso blog. "I'm confident we can be competitive in Korea, a circuit I like and which has characteristics that should work in our favour. I finished there in P8 last year and I made my debut there in 2011, running in Friday morning's free practice, so it's got a few good memories for me as well. Let's hope we can add a few more next week."

Vergne said his confidence comes from the performance Toro Rosso showed during the Singapore weekend, despite the result.

"We always knew that Marina Bay was going to be a hard track for us. It's not one we thought would particularly suit the car, but while that proved correct, we did show some good pace across the weekend. The team did a great job in setting up the car for the conditions and the performance was actually quite good. We were just undone by some technical issues.

"Sure, the race was far from great but we have some positives to take to the next races in terms of having pace where we didn't really expect to and in the way the team worked in Singapore, which I thought was very strong."

The International Rugby Board (IRB) have stripped Australia of the right to host a round of the World Sevens Series, scheduled for Brisbane on 16-17 February, after the Australian government's refusal to provide visas for the squad from Fiji